Dragon Chronicles: Homecoming
by Optimus524
Summary: New Berk is getting ready to celebrate Snoggletog, but Hiccup and Astrid's daughter, Zephyr dragons are monsters. Too count this way of thinking they decide to restart, but unknown to them in some uninvited guests who to are looking out for their children.
1. Not Aged Well

_Dragon Chronicles: Homecoming_

_by Ragnar the All-Knowing_

I'm sure that all of you believed my story of the Dragon Chronicles had finished, but there was one story that I had to write. The scene takes place ten years after the dragons left and how the new generation of Vikings, who had never seen a dragon before, were going to react when they still remained a mystery to them, but I feel as if I should be the one to tell this story so I leave it in the capable hands of my best friend Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III.

All around New Berk, everyone was getting prepared for the holiday, Fishlegs and Ruffnut, who was now officially a couple, were out shopping. Snotlout and Tuffnut were drinking down yaknog, in an attempt to see how long they could hold it in before becoming sick.

'_This is New Berk, at Snoggletog, the greatest time of the year. The lights, the hunting songs, the holiday shopping, the yaknog shooters and the only thing missing were the dragons._'

Even without the dragons, the sheep was still terrified every time they saw something fly over them and huddled with one another. As was proven when a seagull flew directly over them.

Of course, even without dragon's the adults of New Berk were still remembering them. Hiccup himself was explaining everything to his son three-year-old, Nufflink, who had taken after his grandfather Stoick in so many ways.

"It's been 10 years since the dragons and Vikings agreed to live apart, but that doesn't mean we haven't forgotten our flying friends and the best part of it all Nufflink was on Snoggletog Eve I would make Toothless his favourite meal," said Hiccup.

"What was it?" Nufflink asked.

"Lake trout with a side of sea trout with bed of brook trout," Hiccup explained.

"We all like trout."

"And the best part of it all, I still make it for him. A lot of families do stuff like this, it keeps our loved ones in our hearts even though they're far away. So want to help me catch some fish?"

Nufflink jumped to his feet and began swinging his fists. "Good on ya, we're going to feed Toothless! I don't need a fishing pole, da. I'll just but we fishers with my head!" He then began to head-butt the fireplace. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Hiccup and Astrid just shook their heads.

"Come on, Nufflink, let's get Toothless a snack," said Hiccup grabbing his fishing pole.

'_We were excited about making a traditional dragon feast,_' said Hiccup. '_Then it hit me_…'

Hiccup had just opened the doors and stepped outside when he was suddenly knocked into the snow by a wooden battering ram. Both Astrid and Nufflink rushed outside to see what had just happened, and it appeared Hiccup had just activated a trap.

'_Not everyone was on board_,' said Hiccup.

Hiccup turned and saw his five-year-old daughter, Zephyr emerging from the small hillock looking quite pleased with herself.

"Yes, it worked," she said rushing down.

Nufflink was swinging on his sisters trap and Astrid grabbed it before looking back at her daughter. "Zephyr, what are you doing?"

"Testing my Dragon Defence System," she said as she pulled on the crank to reset her trap. "You and all the grown-ups in New Berk are leaving them snacks. What if one of them shows up?"

"But that would be great," said Hiccup as he picked himself up. "We love dragons."

"Why? They're monsters."

* * *

When they got back inside, Zephyr showed them some old books on dragons she had found. Unfortunately, these have been written during the Dragon War, so each and every single one of them depicted how vicious and bloodthirsty they were which unnerved both her parents slightly.

"I found this in the attic, it was grampa's," she said. "How come you never told us the truth about dragons?"

"But we did," said Hiccup. "Dragons are wonderful, they're our friends."

"Tell me this, are they giant?"

"Well, yeah," said Hiccup.

"Razor-sharp teeth?"

"Uh…"

"Breathe fire?"

"I suppose so," said Astrid unnervingly.

"Razor-sharp claws?"

"That would be a yes," Hiccup nodded.

"What happened to your leg?"

"Oh… uh," said Hiccup unable to think of a good response.

"That's what I thought," she said proving her point. "Maybe we don't leave fishnets around to attract them. Because you know who doesn't want to be dragon desert… me."

She then got to her feet and jumped off the bed and looked at Nufflink, who was holding his father's fishing rod. "Nufflink, do you want to be desert for a dragon?"

Nufflink pondered for a moment. "Methinks I don't," he said and dropped the fishing rod. "Let's kill all the dragons!"

Hiccup and Astrid just watched as the children ran out of the house and their mission to slay dragons.

Hiccup looked at Astrid. "How did this happen?"

* * *

It was now night and Hiccup and Astrid was sitting outside next to an open fire.

"Our ancestors were terrified of dragons because they didn't know them," he sighed. "Astrid we can't let our kids go down that road."

Astrid nodded and stood up. "You remember when we were kids, back at Old Berk, how we put on a pageant at Snoggletog."

"Oh, yeah. Those were fun."

"What if we bought the pageant back? We could show the children of New Berk how humans and dragons became friends."

"That's a great idea," said Hiccup as he rose to his feet. "But we've only got four days until Snoggletog, three if you don't count Black Plague Friday."

"Yeah, nothing gets done," Astrid nodded. "Everyone is just shopping and coughing."

"I think we could do this," said Hiccup. "Let's talk to Ragnar and Gobber."

While they were busy talking Zephyr was improving her traps with the assistance of Nufflink. Nufflink put on a dragon mask and charged at the door at full speed, the pendulum then swung from the door frame and he was sent flying into the snow.

"You got me!" said Nufflink's muffled voice.

Astrid smiled. "Kid can take a hit."

She turned and saw Hiccup leaning over the balcony and looking up into the stars.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked approaching him.

"Yeah, it's just all these talks of dragons kinda makes me miss him." Astrid placed a hand over his hand and the other one on his shoulder. "Part of the holidays, you know. I wonder if Toothless ever misses me."

* * *

In the Hidden World, Toothless was drawing an image of Hiccup in the sand indicating that he did miss him. One of his children, who was playing nearby, flew down towards him and looked at the image.

He had never seen a human before so he found the image rather strange and then his two siblings rolled towards them. The two of them also found the image rather strange and began making additions and before Toothless could stop in the Light Fury nuzzled him.

When the two children were done Hiccup now had a pair of dragon wings on his back. Toothless immediately rubbed the image and made a new one, this time of Hiccup in front of a mountain and he had drawn an image of himself flying close by and healing to the two images with a single line.

The Light Fury didn't look at all pleased, she clearly didn't want him giving them any ideas in their heads and walked off. Toothless' side and approached her in order to calm her down and nuzzled her who immediately nuzzle back.

She then took off, though not before rubbing her tail across his body in an affectionate manner. He immediately began to follow her and his children followed suit, but one of them the one with black-and-white scales and blue eyes look to the image one last time wondering who this human was. She then heard the sound of his mother's roar and immediately took off after them.

* * *

The next morning at New Berk, a few kids were throwing stones at the statue of Stoick.

"Hit his nose!"

One of the girls tossed the stone striking Stoick on the nose.

"Yeah! That's two for me!"

The second girl then tossed her rock, but before it could strike the statue Gobber grabbed it and narrowed his eyes at the youngsters.

"You hooligans, how dare you desecrate the statue of Stoick the Vast!" Gobber yelled.

"How?"

"Stoick! The bravest Viking in the history of Berk! He put the king in Viking!"

Ragnar approached him and shook his head. "He's Chief Hiccup's father, who gave his life to save his son into battle. Now if I see you tossing those rocks again I'll tell you, parents, now get going!"

The children looked at one another and shrugged before walking off.

Heather then approached her husband with little Oswald, who was roughly the same age as Zephyr and looked a lot like Ragnar when he was his age, though he had black hair.

"Don't you think you are a little harsh with them?" Heather asked.

Ragnar looked at her. "Stoick certainly deserved far more respect than that, don't you agree?"

Gobber sighed and looked at the statue. "Oh, my dear mate. I missed you so, remember when we were at that meet house and those two busy goats wagered I couldn't hold my left elbow in a boiling pot of gruel for five minutes. Haaa, good times!"

He was so busy talking that he failed to notice the arrival of Hiccup and Astrid, who were looking at him rather concerned. Ragnar and Heather also shared the same look, Gobber was always like this time of year.

Hiccup cleaned his throat. "Gobber!"

Gobber turned towards them. "Hey, kids. I was just talking to a statue of your father as if he was really here."

The four them gave each other looks.

Heather then bent down to Oswald. "Why don't you go and play with Zephyr and Nufflink while we talk to your grandfather."

"Okay, mama," he said excitedly and ran off.

"It pains me to see how the wee ones of this town have forgotten Stoick," Gobber sighed.

"I know and Zephyr is afraid of dragons," Astrid added.

"Oswald has been rather reluctant to assist us with the treats for the dragons this year," said Ragnar.

"What do we expect, we did fear this might happen someday," Heather reminded them. "Most of the children here have never seen a dragon or they hear about is the folktales. Plus, we can't exactly forget that we were at war with them for 300 years."

"I know, which is why we want to bring back the Snoggletog pageant," said Hiccup.

* * *

They soon made their way to Gobber's house and he began looking for his stuff for the old script of the pageant. He founded in a dusty old chair stand blew the dust off ride in the face of the four of them.

"You're in luck, the script I wrote for the last pageant," said Gobber placing it on the table.

Of course, when they read it wasn't exactly painting the dragons in a good light. According to the script, Stoick was crying out in anger and rage slicing of the head of a pretend dragon. He then proclaimed the audience that they had twisted souls and that Vikings will forever swim in the rivers of their blood.

"Oh, that's nasty," said Gobber.

"This has not aged well," said Hiccup.

"It certainly doesn't show dragons in a good light," Ragnar agreed.

"No, if the kids see this though go on into the woods to find and slay dragons," Heather nodded.

"Hmm, we may need to start from scratch," said Astrid. "Why don't we show when everything changed?"

"Oh, that's would be fantastic," said Hiccup excitedly. "Like when I met Toothless and—"

"Maybe more big picture, honey," Astrid suggested gently. "Perhaps when all Vikings and dragons became friends."

"Oh, Astrid I love that," said Gobber. "I'll start writing immediately."

"I've been starting to write my own memoirs, accounts of what happened we could use those as a starting point," Ragnar suggested.

"This is just what we'll need," said Gobber. "To on our friendship with dragons and of course…" He then pulled down on a rope and a tapestry of Stoick rolled down in front of them. "…my great friend Stoick."

"Okay," said Hiccup slowly.

All four of them were looking a little awkward and none of them decided to ask why he had aim large tapestry of Stoick in his house.

* * *

On that same night, the Night-Light with blue eyes and black and white scales was looking at the drawing of Hiccup while his parents slept. She was curious to find out who this person was and then an idea popped into his head.

The immediately rushed over to her brothers and woke them. Of course the moment they awoke they began fighting with one another before he stopped them. She gestured towards their parents telling them to be quiet so they could sneak out.

She then dragged them towards the drawing telling them that she wanted to find this mysterious person and they like the idea of going on a little adventure. With that settled the immediately took off and flew out of the hidden world towards New Berk.


	2. Preparing a Pageant

Gobber rushed into Hiccup's workshop with Ragnar following close behind.

"Hiccup! We've been up all night, it's just the first draft but I'm going, to be honest, it's brilliant!" said Gobber.

"What do you mean we? You insist to write the entire thing by yourself?" Ragnar reminded him folding his arms.

The children then jumped when they saw Toothless' head looking at them.

"Toothless?" Gobber stared.

The mouth opened to reveal Hiccup's head inside, he was merely wearing the headpiece of a suit he had designed.

"Pretty great, right?" he smiled.

"Amazing," said Gobber.

"So lifelike," Ragnar nodded.

"Wait a minute, I've got an idea," said Gobber hobbling towards him. "We should use this for the pageant."

Hiccup looked at Ragnar who merely shrugged.

"Well… yeah, that's…" Hiccup decided just to give up. "Geez, I never would have thought of that." He then made his way towards his blueprints. "I'm gonna make him so much like Toothless that Zephyr is going to fall in love with him."

"He's beautiful," Gobber nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But cogs and gears can't bring back the warmth of your friend' nose and the light in his eyes."

Hiccup nodded sadly. "Or the sound of your best friends voice. Yeah, I miss my dad too Gobber."

"Which is exactly why we're doing this, to remember them," said Ragnar smiling at the two of them.

"We'll make them both proud," Gobber nodded.

* * *

Later that day, Hiccup made his way back to his house.

'_It was a couple of days before Snoggletog and I was getting excited by the pageant,_' said Hiccup. When he reached his house, Hiccup found a trout hanging from the door from a rope. He tugged on the robe and immediately saw pendulum swinging towards them in quickly sidestepped out of the way. '_And then it hit me…_'

However, at that point, another pendulum from inside the house struck him sending him flying outside. He then saw that his leg was wrapped around a rope and found himself being pulled into the house and seconds later he was hanging upside down in a net.

"Yes, it works!" Zephyr cried.

"We're going to capture a dragon, da!" said Nufflink enthusiastically swinging his fists. "Knocking cold so he can't eat us!"

"Zephyr designed the whole trap herself," Astrid smiled, clearly enjoying the situation.

"So proud," said Hiccup as he tried to find a way out of the trap.

"Come on, Nufflink," said Zephyr looking at her brother. "Let's set some traps outside. Come on! Come on!"

"We're going to trap a dragon!" Nufflink sang as they rushed outside.

"What did I see about using the good axe?" Astrid yelled chasing after them. "Kids!

"Is anybody—" Astrid then close the door behind her, leaving Hiccup hanging upside down. "Okay, this pageant had better work."

* * *

Meanwhile in the Hidden World, Toothless began to stir and look to where his children were sleeping. He then fell down and fell back to sleep, but the Light Fury awoke and noticed something wrong, she then ignited a rock and it immediately glowed green.

That's when she saw that the children were in fact rocks and that they were nowhere to be seen. The noise woke Toothless up and he immediately saw the problem, the two of them began looking wildly for them and began searching for them. However, it only took them a few seconds to realise where they might have gone and quickly ran off after them.

* * *

Hiccup was finally free from Zephyr's trap and the entire village was now setting up the stage for the pageant. Hiccup was looking over the script as Gobber organised the cast.

"Good news, chief," he said. "After exhausting casting, we found our Hiccup."

"Yeah, Gobber… actually, I wanted to ask you and Ragnar about the whole Hiccup character in the story," said Hiccup. "

Gobber didn't appear to be listening to him. "Hiccup! Present yourself!"

Hiccup looked up from the script and saw Tuffnut standing on stage wearing a poorly fitting costume and brown leaves in his hair.

"Tuffnut?" Hiccup stared.

"Just thank your lucky stars that we got a male cast, all the others were female," said Ragnar.

"Tuffnut, give us a taste," said Gobber.

"A dragon is coming," said Tuffnut in a poor impersonation of Hiccup's voice. "Argh! Help me… Help… uh… line?"

"'…me…'" said Gobber holding out the script.

"Right," Tuffnut nodded. "Me!"

Hiccup shook his head. "Are you—"

"Great, let's see you run away in fear," said Gobber.

Tuffnut then ran and the sport waving his arms and legs in all different directions.

"Look at those nought knees, displayed gate of a newborn lamb," said Gobber proudly.

"I do not run like that," said Hiccup and then turned towards Ragnar. "Do I run like that?"

Ragnar merely shrugged.

Hiccup shook his head. "Which brings me to a bigger point, I read the script Gobber and I have some notes. I'm not sure the character of Hiccup is coming through as, uh… quite heroic as I was. I was pretty heroic, no?"

"I accept for the time when Toothless roared in-your-face and you offended a few seconds later, when Meatlug was about to blast you, when Stormfly chase you through the maze and when you were nearly eaten by Hookfang," said Ragnar counting them off his fingers.

"You're not helping," said Hiccup.

Gobber laughed and nudged Hiccup, causing him to drop the script as he talked to Tuffnut. "Oh mate, I think we get the gist of it."

"But that's not in any way me!" Hiccup yelled.

Astrid then appeared. "Hey, Hiccup… I was—" She stopped when she realised that she was talking to Tuffnut. "Oh."

"Are you serious?" Hiccup yelled as Ragnar snickered behind him.

* * *

At the same time, the baby Night-Lights were flying over the vast ocean practically all night. They had never flown this far before and they were starting to get tired the one with white and black scales had to catch his brother before he fell into the sea.

However the one with blue eyes kept on pushing them towards the horizon, she was desperate to find the human that his father had drawn in the sand.

* * *

Back on New Berk, they were still casting for the rest the pageant and the only character they had left was Stoick and so far they had little luck.

"Better luck next time Haggis, nice effort," said Gobber as Haggis walked off the stage looking disappointed.

"Who's next?" Gobber asked.

Fishlegs then walked onto the stage. "Fishlegs Ingerman, reading for the role of Stoick the Vast."

The man of the brazier then reflected the light of the flames with a shield down onto Fishlegs creating a spotlight making Fishlegs a little nervous.

"If I don't return…" Fishlegs began but stopped. "Nope, nope…" He began pounding his chest and cleared his throat. "If I don't return, know that all I am and all that I do is for you my precious Hiccup."

Everyone stopped what they were doing as Fishlegs was performing the greatest impersonation of Stoick that they had ever heard.

"Wow," said Hiccup breathlessly and leaned in towards Gobber. "So you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes, I am," Gobber nodded. "This isn't working."

"What?" Hiccup stared. "Not working?"

"You're right, I should do it," said Gobber as he rose to his feet. "No, no, don't try and talk me out of it." He then shoved Fishlegs out of the way. "I knew Stoick best."

He then performed the worst impression of Stoick they had ever heard. "If I don't return, know that all I am and all that I do…" He then burst into tears. "I miss them so much! I just need a moment!"

Hiccup noticed that his daughter did at all impressed and continued carving her wooden stake. "Da, da, da, we're doomed," he said as he tossed the script aside.

* * *

It was at this precise moment that the Night-Lights had finally reached New Berk and after flying for such a long distance they were glad to land on an island. They noticed the snow on the ground, it was the first time they had actually seen the start of and one of the boys tossed a chunk of it at his brother. He laughed at him and then he immediately retaliated by tossing some snow with his tail directly on top of him.

The Night-Light with blue eyes and black and white scales then led them to a hill and they saw the village, this was the first time they had ever seen humans and there were so many of them. Trying to find the human of their father's drawing would not be an easy task. Her brother with white and black scales stood up straight, but realising that they need to stay quiet and low she lowered his head with her wing.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set now and Gobber was still crying, knowing it was too late to get anyone else to play his father Hiccup approached him.

"Gobber, the pageant is tonight so do you think you'll be able to do this?" he asked.

"I hope it wasn't noticeable!" Gobber cried.

"You know, it is," Hiccup nodded. "But… Gobber think of the kids, we're doing this for them."

"Aye, Hiccup," said Gobber brushing the tears out of his eyes. "Brilliant as always."

* * *

The Night-Lights had managed to sneak into the village and were now directly under the stage. They then poked their heads out of the hatch and saw Hiccup's Toothless' suit. Panicking the Night-Light with blue eyes and black and white scales' brothers panicked thinking it was real and dived back down beneath the stage causing the hatch to hit on top of her head.

After the spots had disappeared she lifted his head and saw Hiccup standing there.

"You're going to be fine," he said to Gobber before turning around.

The Night-Light looked at him and immediately saw that he bore a striking resemblance to the image her father had drawn in the sand. She tried to approach him, but her brothers, still thinking there was an actual dragon out there, pulled her back.

Hiccup noticed the hatch moved and kneeled towards it. "What?"

He was about to investigate, but then Gobber yelled. "Okay, people! Two minutes to curtain!"

Hiccup had no time to investigate as he was too busy putting the final touches on his suit.


	3. The Pageant That Went Wrong

The Night-Lights had managed to sneak away from the stage and were making their way down a snowy path when they came face-to-face with a sheep. They have never seen a sheep before and when the sheep saw them, it immediately began to shake causing the bells around it to jingle.

Unsure on what to make with the sheep they merely went past it and took off towards the hill that overlooked the Plaza. They look down towards the stage where the pattern was about to begin, but the Night-Light with white and black scales turned around and tapped his sister.

She then immediately turned around his eyes widened and tapped her brother with his tail. He then turned around and smiled nervously as standing before them were their parents, both of whom didn't look pleased. Immediately they pointed to one another, but they nearly scolded all three of them and began giving them a dressing down.

Fortunately for them, there was that moment that the patent began to start which diverted Toothless to look at the stage.

The orchestra began playing their instruments and Fishlegs and Ruffnut, who were the stagehands, began to open the curtains. Snotlout was operating the machine that would show the actors their lines if they got stamped and then the spotlight shone down onto the stage.

The curtains opened revealing Tuffnut and Gobber, both of whom who were dressed up like Hiccup and Stoick.

"Hiccup, today is the day that everything changes," said Gobber. "I have tamed a dragon!"

Tuffnut bent down to look at the lines. "I am so tiny and afraid."

Hiccup looked outraged. "What is that? That never happened!"

"So Gobber took a few liberties," said Astrid gently.

"Yeah, kinda made Stoick the main character in this pageant. I did try to persuade him to stick with my memoirs but you know what he's like," said Ragnar.

"There were dragons everywhere and people doubting me, especially my own father," said Hiccup looking furious. "Then I stood my ground and touched one, I touched a dragon. That hard-core."

Astrid and Ragnar merely shrugged as they helped him into his suit.

"He's got the spirit of the story and this is what this pageant is really about," said Astrid gently. "Isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said Hiccup softly.

"Next year I promise that I'll straighten it all out," Ragnar promised.

"Hiccup, you are weak and fear dragons," said Gobber causing people to laugh. "I am strong and understanding."

"Honey, I don't know if I want to go through this," said Hiccup.

"You're on," said Astrid putting the dragon head down over him.

Astrid then gave the thumbs up to Fishlegs and Ruffnut and the immediately lifted Hiccup into the air. They then slowly pulled him towards the stage and everyone watched in amazement as he appeared especially the kids.

"There he is, the Night Fury," said Gobber gesturing towards him.

Hiccup could see that the kids were clapping and were looking excited, Nufflink certainly looked excited though Zephyr was a bit busy carving a stake. He then pulled down a level causing the head flaps to flap to get their attention.

"Wow," said Nufflink.

"Nope," said Zephyr looking unimpressed.

"Whatever," said Nufflink sitting back down.

Hiccup then turned to crime causing the wings to extend.

Gobber was starting to break down and actually that's when everything went wrong.

"This pageant is bringing up the feelings," he cried. "Stoick would have loved this. The only thing vaster than his presence was his compassionate for mirth."

He then made his way to the curtain and blew his nose.

"Dad, you're on stage," Ragnar hissed.

"I'm good, I'm good," he cried as he made his way back to the centre stage.

Unfortunately, his fake beard got caught in the curtain and was hovering over a brazier and caught fire. It then slipped off the curtain and fell onto the floor igniting a rope and it was that point that Fishlegs and Ruffnut stop what they were doing to kiss one another. This, in turn, caused them to release one of the sandbags that struck one of the Vikings on stage and his shield rolled onto the stage passing the blazing rope and setting itself on fire. It then struck a ladder which then caught fire and in no time the entire stage was set alight.

"I will always remember your wise words," said Tuffnut. "'Hiccup you can be a giant, but faced by enemies with care…'"

Snotlout noticed the flames and immediately rushed onto stage and Tuffnut continue to read the lines. "'Hiccup, you can be a giant, but face…'"

Snotlout onto the backstage and grab the flaming shield tossing it towards Fishlegs, who then tried to pick it up. Unfortunately, he wasn't too careful and knocked down some of the scenery and set on fire.

By this point, the audience realised that the stage was on fire and began to panic, though Tuffnut remains completely unaware and continue to read the same lines over and over again. Gobber noticed the panicked looks on the audience and turned around and saw that the entire stage was burning around them.

"Don't panic!" he yelled a try to fan the fires. "It's just part of the show!"

Astrid and Ragnar were running all across the state trying to put out the fires and was soon joined by Heather. Hiccup, unfortunately, was unable to help and he himself was beginning to panic and soon the ropes that were holding him burnt away causing him to fall.

The entire stage then fell apart and everyone jumped clear and Hiccup, Fishlegs and Ruffnut could be heard screaming. Hiccup struck the stage floor and began to pick himself up, but accidentally struck one of the levers causing him to frail about. Naturally, the side of an uncontrollable dragon frightened all the kids and Zephyr positioned herself in front of her brother to shield him pointing the steak at Hiccup.

"Doing something!" Gobber yelled.

"I got it, maybe this one," he said pulling down on a rope.

It certainly did do something, though it wasn't reaction they had hoped for. Flames immediately shot out of the mouth and everyone that to avoid getting burnt.

"Why would you give it functionality?" Gobber yelled.

"Hiccup always has to go overboard with his inventions," Ragnar sighed.

Everyone was panicking and it would seem as if the pageant was having the opposite effect they had hoped for.

Hiccup then began losing his balance and leaned back towards the edge of the stage, which was also the edge of the cliff. Toothless saw Hiccup was getting close the edge and everyone was too much in a panic to notice, of course, he had no idea was Hiccup in the suit.

"I got it," said Hiccup trying to maintain his balance.

Toothless realise that he hadn't got it and immediately flew down as quickly as he could. Hiccup then slipped and fell off the cliff heading towards the sea. Everyone was so much in a panic they didn't spot Toothless driving towards the stage and towards Hiccup. Toothless grabbed him and Hiccup banged his head against the head making everything fuzzy.

Hiccup Dean realise they were flying back up towards the stage and with the mouth firmly shut, he couldn't see his saviour. He would have toppled over if Toothless hadn't caught him.

"Gobber… Gobber, is that you?" Hiccup asked. "Thank you for helping out there."

Toothless recognised the voice and sniffed the suit recognising Hiccup scent. He then happily licked the head and the smell reached inside it.

"Ugh, did you have swamp trout for lunch?" said Hiccup. Toothless heard him and Hiccup tried to maintain his balance. "Let me try to shift my weight so that I can—" He then fell face-first onto the stage floor. "Uh, Gobber?"

Everything had finally calmed down and the stage.

"How did he lose last two limbs, Gobber?" Gobber muttered to himself. "Oh, it was a pageant."

"Gobber!" Hiccup yelled.

Gobber turned around and saw the silhouette of Toothless thinking it was Hiccup.

"Hiccup?" said Gobber.

Toothless looked at Gobber and then to Hiccup, he knew he couldn't let anyone see him as it would cause a massive panic Woody had another bad. An idea then appeared and his head and he turned to approach Gobber and then spread his wings. The smoke was just enough to shield him from the view of the audience so they still believed it was Hiccup and they all looked at him in wonder.

"Wow, nice one Hiccup," Gobber whispered the turned back towards the audience. "Greetings, magnificent creature. Will you allow Stoick detain you with his gentle touch?"

He then flipped his prosthetic hand up and then place it in front of Toothless' snout while looking away. Everyone watched wondering what to expect next, Toothless looked up at his family and then back at Gobber. He then closes eyes and placed his snout against the wooden hand and everyone cheered.

"Let man and dragon be forever bonded in trust and love," said Gobber placing a hand over his heart.

Nufflink clapped enthusiastically and even Zephyr smiled as she clapped.

Upon the hill the Light Fury and the children were watching and while the Night-Light with blue eyes and black-and-white scales watched as her brother and sister began fighting again. She, however, was more fascinated with the pageant and was now starting to see why his father likes this human.

"That was amazing," said Nufflink as he stood on one of the benches. "I'm so excited, I could fly."

To prove his point he jumped off the bench, but no sooner had he did he landed face-first on the ground.

Zephyr just shook ahead. "It's just a show, Nufflink. It's just dad in a suit."

She then saw Toothless beginning to leave the stage and then began to follow him.

"Hey, Dad," she said reaching the backstage. "Dad?"

She then turned and realise that it had not been her father onstage, but an actual dragon. She immediately fiddled with the steak she had been carved, but it fell out of the hands. She was utterly terrified as the dragon poked its head out of the smoke, but when she saw him she was no longer afraid.

She realised that it was Toothless, she had seen enough of her father's drawings and descriptions to recognise him. He was beautiful, he had sleek black dragon scales and his eyes were full of wonder.

"Hi," she said softly.

Toothless looked at her and sniffed, realising that she had a similar scent to Hiccup realise that she was his daughter.

"A little help here!" Hiccup's voice yelled from the backstage. "Gobber? Anyone? Literally anyone!"

The two of them looked at one another for a little while longer, but then flying overhead was the Light Fury and the kids. He looked back at Zephyr one last time before he took off and she just stared at him excitedly before running off.

* * *

Later that night, Hiccup, Astrid, Ragnar and Heather walk down the street with the entire family with Gobber in tow. The kids were no longer afraid of dragons, in fact, we're rather excited.

"I love dragons and I love Toothless," said Zephyr as she ran around with her arms outstretched as if they were wings. She then looked up at her father. "He's beautiful why did you tell me you were really going to bring him?"

Hiccup looked at them confused. "I literally have no idea what she's talking about."

"I wouldn't complain, at least she's no longer afraid of dragons," Ragnar pointed out.

"None of our children are," Heather smiled as Oswald played with Zephyr and Nufflink.

"This whole thing was not what I expected," said Hiccup.

"It never is, but you can't argue with the results," Ragnar smiled as he turned his head.

They followed his gaze and saw the same kids ahead tossed stones at Stoick's statue and our place in a reef around his head. Plus their children were now re-enacting the pageant and were no longer afraid of dragons.

"I am Stoick the Vast!" Nufflink cried as he stood tall and proud.

"I'm Toothless," said Zephyr as she jumped onto a log with her arms outstretched. She then leaned ahead towards Nufflink, who then placed his palm against it. "Let's be friends!"

"You are right," said Hiccup looking at Astrid. "It was exactly what everyone needed for the kids and for the memory of my father."

"Aw," said Astrid giving him a big hug.

Hiccup then turned to Gobber. "Gobber, you have well honoured my father and your friend."

"It was my deepest privilege to do so," said Gobber proudly. "Thank you, Hiccup."

"Yeah, but next time how about I write the script?" Ragnar suggested. "And perhaps we should put a little bit more fact into the next pageant, I mean we can't let everyone think that our chief was a weak spineless coward."

Hiccup looked at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think what Ragnar was trying to say, is perhaps we should show everyone just how brave and heroic you are," said Heather gently.

"Well, guess I'll be heading home," said Gobber as he hobbled away slowly. "Alone… all the best Snoggletogs I've spent in solitary… gatherness silence."

They all shook their heads.

"Gobber…" said Astrid.

"If you're free tonight," Hiccup offered.

Gobber turned around abruptly. "I'd love to."

They all laughed.

"It is always best to spend Snoggletog with friends and family," said Ragnar.

"And it would be nice if Oswald had some children of his age to play with this year," Heather added.

"Let's get going," said Hiccup.

* * *

They soon all made their way to Hiccup's house, but before Gobber could step on the porch Zephyr stopped him.

"Gobber, wait!" she yelled and grabbed Nufflink's helmet.

She then tossed it onto the porch and then suddenly a mace came out of nowhere smashing the helmet.

Gobber looked impressed. "That's clever."

Nufflink was about to retrieve his dented helmet, but Zephyr stopped him. "And…" Moments later arrows appeared out of nowhere striking the helmet. "You're good."

"Ah, so proud," said Hiccup looking teary-eyed.

"Like daughter like father," Ragnar smiled.

When the entered the house, the first thing they noticed was a strange green glow that shone across the entire house which was being caused by glowing rock on the mantelpiece.

"Wow, look at that!" said Nufflink as he and his sister ran to the mantelpiece.

"It's beautiful," said Zephyr.

"Hiccup, did you do this?" Astrid whispered.

Hiccup shook his head looking as confused as they were. "No."

Then made their way to the bowl, which Hiccup had filled with fish only to find that it was empty.

"The bowl, it's empty," said Astrid astonished as Hiccup held it in his hand.

"Toothless?" Hiccup stared.

"Can be?" said Gobber.

"No way," said Ragnar.

Hiccup and Astrid then immediately ran outside and looked around wildly, then they saw Toothless with his family flying away in the moonlight.

"Toothless!" Hiccup yelled smiling.

'_And then it hit me,_' said Hiccup as Zephyr and Nufflink ran up towards him and gave a big hug. '_Our loved ones are always nearby when we hold them in our hearts._

Ragnar, Heather, Oswald and Gobber then arrived and the two gave them all hugs.

"Maybe it's our turn to visit them?" Astrid suggested.


End file.
